Celebrity Death Haiku

Katherine Johnson

1918-2020

Hollywood's huzzah
For moon shot math too little
But not quite too late

--T. Morrow

 

Opportunity Mars Rover

2003-2019

Our favorite Martian
Beyond above and beyond
Oppy bites red dust

--O’Cyrus

 

Fleeting reminder
We are, like Oppy, floating
On a rock in space

--Phil DeBlanc

 

So, humanity
Does something right, for once, but
On other planet

--Toby Namedlater

 

 

Harlan Ellison

1937-2018

A sci-fi bad boy
Has some unfinished business,
Treks off to Forever

--Michael Dominowski

Leonard Nimoy

1931–2015

Lived long and prospered
By any logic he served
Needs of the many

—Dr. Vitz

Neil Armstrong

1930–2012

Did he ever, on 
A moonlit night, glance up, wink
And say, 'Hi, gorgeous'

— O'Cyrus

* * *

Buzz watched from behind
As once again Neil was first
To take giant leap

— Dr. Vitz 

Sally Ride

1951–2012

All she wants to do 
Is rocket 'round the world
Now bye, Sally Ride

— Dr. Vitz

 

Ray Bradbury

1920–2012

Shook the pulp out of
Sci-fi making it safe for
Really Big Ideas  

— O'Cyrus

* * *

Man of the future
Who feared flying and never
Learned to drive a car

— Abbie Rhodes

 

Steve Jobs

1955–2011

Jobs has a new gig:
convincing the living that
death's insanely great

— Jeff Tiedrich

* * *

Having changed our world
Jobs is no doubt now changing
Whatever comes next

— Jeff Tiedrich

* * *

Cannot imagine
How many read his obit  
On a Mac product

— Inshallah

* * *

With the death of Jobs  
The Apple War is over ...  
Paul McCartney wins!

— Inshallah

Jack Kervorkian

1928-2011

Suicide's salesman
When facing his own decline
Waited for Reaper

-- Jeff Tiedrich

* * *

As professional
Courtesy, Angel of Death
Says, "I got this one."

 -- Lairbo

* * *

So, did he get a
Little help from his friends or
Just die natcherly?

-- O'Cyrus

 

Owsley Stanley

1935 – 2011

If not for Owsley
Trips might have been just as long
But a lot less strange

— Jeff Tiedrich

* * *

Bear's choice recipe
Crossed a diamond with a pearl
Many stared at hands

— Dr. Vitz

 

 

Benoit Mandelbrot

1924 – 2010

Mandelbrot's coffin
Is a set of rectangles
That hardly seems fair

— Jeff Tiedrich

 

Claude Lévi-Strauss

1908 – 2009

No matter where he

Looked, there was human nature

Up to its old tricks

— Lairbo

* * *

Making sense of life,

He found, was mythology's

Universal truth

— Phil Valens

Michael Crichton

1942 – 2008

Very tall teller

Of even taller tales 'bout

Dinosaurs gone wild

— Lairbo

Albert Hoffman

1906 – 2008

Albert Hoffman is . . .

. . . oh wow . . . my hand . . . the colors . . .
I understand blue!
— Jeff Tiedrich

* * *

Albert Hoffman's dead
Or . . . oh wow . . . maybe he lives
In God's fingernail
— Jeff Tiedrich

Arthur C. Clarke

 

1917 – 2008

Wrote script for movie
Hijacked by genius gone wild
Ending unexplained

— Lairbo

* * *

We get the moon part
And the computer gone nuts
But the "Star Child"? Huh?

— Philco

Don Herbert

1917 – 2007 (Mr. Wizard)

Hey Mr. Wizard!
What happens when someone dies?
Well, Timmy ..... aaaack (thud).

— Jeff Tiedrich

Wally Schirra

1923 – 2007

Wally Schirra's arc:
First he was Spam in a can
Now he's Tang for worms

— Jeff Tiedrich

Steve Irwin

1962 – 2006

That feisty sheila!
Look at the big ray on 'er!
She could kill you right...

— Julie Jackson

* * * 

Death ray gets Irwin
Hunter becomes the hunted
Oy, crikey, that stings!

— Lairbo

James Doohan

1920 – 2005

Alas poor Scotty
Mission finally ended
Powered down, beamed up

— Deb Berk

* * *

Repair the warp drives?
I nae can do it, Captain
'Cause I'm fucking dead

— Jeff Tiedrich

Francis Crick

1916 – 2004

Even a crackpot 
Gets it right and a Nobel
Prize for it, sometimes

— O'Cyrus

Timothy Leary

1920 – 1998

Acid will open
Your mind, he said, not knowing
His was now long gone

— O'Cyrus

Carl Sagan

1934 – 1996

Contemplated the
Universe with wonderment
And skepticism

— Lairbo

* * *

In false modesty
Asimov admitted Carl
Was smarter than him

— Phil Valens

 

Isaac Asimov

1920 – 1992

Laid the foundation

For popular sci-fi and

Enormous sideburns

— Lairbo

B.F. Skinner

1904 – 1990

Rats in a box, right? 
Or was he the guy with the 
Dog food and the bells?

— P. Shaw

Howard Hughes

1905 – 1976

Liked airplanes, big boobs

And money. Had himself more 

Than his share of each

— Lairbo